As you know, I love historical fashion and because it’s National Foot Week in the UK, I’m going to babble about historical footwear. We often overlook our feet, even though they support our bodies. Footwear fashion, especially for women, is focused on beauty rather than support and protection. But when did humans start to wear shoes? Let’s find out.
In the wealthy modern world, we take footwear for granted. Could you imagine walking barefoot down the high street? But, it’s not that long ago in the UK when children were left to roam and play barefoot. My grandmother, born in 1921, told me some children who lived in her street did not own a pair of shoes. I remember she said that if all the children in a family wore shoes, they were prosperous. Older siblings may have passed those shoes down, but any pair was better than none.
It’s quite humbling to remember that an item we expect everyone to have was once considered a luxury, and still is for many.
The Oldest Footwear
Anthropologists believe humans first started to wear a sturdy form of foot covering around 40,000 years ago. However, the earliest evidence of human footwear is the Fort Rock sandals. These are woven sagebrush bark sandals made by indigenous people in Oregon, North America. Radiocarbon dating estimates they are from about 10,200 to 9,300 years ago.
CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED
The first fully enclosed shoes were discovered in a cave in Armenia in 2010. These are considered the world’s oldest leather shoes and are made from tanned cowhide that has been dated to 5,000 years ago.
Sandals of Antiquity
As more materials became available, improvements were made to footwear for both comfort and style. The Japanese and the Egyptians both wore footwear that could be described as a forerunner of the flip-flop. Quilted hemp sandals emerged from China. The hard cobbles of the Roman roads demanded more cushioning for a poor legionnaire’s foot. Their marching sandals incorporated a cork sole.
Get to the Point
In 1305, King Edward I of England decreed an inch should equate to three dried barleycorns (how accurate and constant🙄). Anyway, this became the basis for shoe sizing in England. A fashion craze then developed across Europe. Long, pointed shoes became a status symbol. They were known as poulaines or crakows, and the longer the poulaine, the bigger the wearer’s… bank account.
In England, the clergy condemned them as racy, and in 1463 Edward IV passed a law limiting the length to 2 inches. Points then faded in popularity.
Photograph by Sandstein CC by 3.0
Bring on the Heels
The Persian military originally wore heels for riding and their diplomatic envoys to Western Europe meant the fashion trend caught on. In 1670, King Louis XIV of France declared heels were to be worn only by noblemen (note, not noblewomen).
The gendering of the heel shifted during the Enlightenment. Men were supposed to convey productivity rather than laziness, and because the heel was impractical for anything but horse riding, it became the symbol of leisure. Men adopted lower heels and women’s became higher. Heels also helped to hide the foot beneath the skirt and made the feet appear smaller and dainty. (God forbid a woman had enormous feet.)
Revolutionising Footwear
The Industrial Revolution transformed the production of footwear from the materials used to the mechanisation of production. Vulcanised rubber meant you could finally own footwear that kept your feet dry. Check out my post about the Wellington boot for more details.
Flexible Modernity
Shoe brands popped up in the twentieth century, some of which are still going strong, and were usually intended as sports footwear. Canvas and rubber-soled Keds were designed for tennis players in 1926, and the following year, the Converse All-Star was created for basketball players. Soccer shoe (or trainer, as we call them in the UK) manufacturers, Adidas and Nike started in the 1950s and 1960s.
What a Croc (Ahem… apologies 🤭)
The Croc has certainly split opinion regarding footwear. I have a knock-off pair for pottering about in the garden, but that’s it. I would never wear them out and about (shudder). Will Crocs stand the test of time as a piece of functional and comfortable footwear?
What’s your favourite era of historical footwear? Do you have a style preference for footwear or a favourite pair of shoes you simply can’t abide to cast aside? My Dad had a pair of off-white Derby shoes (plain, round-toed dress shoes) he bought in the 1980s. He loved them and was still wearing them in the noughties until my brother (sick of seeing the things) accidentally gave them to his dog to chew.
You’re not alone, Dad. I have several pairs of gorgeous dress shoes hanging around, gathering dust. I can’t bring myself to get rid of them, just in case I go somewhere nice.
If you want to look at a timeline of historical footwear, the one on the V & A website is excellent.
